https://theathletic.com/3401885/2022/07/06/isaiah-hartenstein-knicks/Get to know Isaiah Hartenstein, Knicks’ newest center
Fred Katz, Law Murray
Jalen Brunson isn’t the only signing for the New York Knicks so far.
On the first night of free agency, New York agreed to a two-year contract with former LA Clippers center Isaiah Hartenstein. Hartenstein, who is coming off a breakout season in L.A., projects to back up Mitchell Robinson. Now, it’s time to discuss how Hartenstein might fit in his new role.
Clippers beat writer Law Murray received five pressing questions about Hartenstein from Knicks beat writer Fred Katz, touching on what makes the 24-year-old such an effective defender, how his passing can help the Knicks, which players he might develop the best chemistry with and more.
Hartenstein was almost like the point guard of the Clippers’ second unit last season. No, he didn’t bring the ball up, but the Clippers ran so much of their second-unit offense through him once they got into the half court. The Knicks, though, have lots of guards and wings who will handle a decent amount: Julius Randle, RJ Barrett and Jalen Brunson with the starters and Derrick Rose and Immanuel Quickley with the reserves. Assuming Hartenstein plays 18 to 22 minutes a game and is mostly with the bench lineups, what do you think is a good way for the Knicks to use him?
The interesting thing about Hartenstein going from the Clippers to the Knicks is that he’s going from one team that looked to spot shooters up, run pick-and-rolls and isolate, to a new team that does the same. Both the Clippers and Knicks were slightly below average in pick-and-roll offense, and both were terrible in isolation. But the Clippers were one of the best-shooting teams in the league last season, while the Knicks … were not.
Hartenstein’s connection with Luke Kennard, the league’s most accurate 3-point shooter last season, was perhaps the highlight of his playmaking. Kennard was the primary recipient of Hartenstein passes last season and the main 3-point target that Hartenstein found, with Terance Mann coming in second and leading the way in Hartenstein’s assist targets inside the arc.
The Knicks have an opportunity to unlock parts of their offense with Hartenstein that they couldn’t with Mitchell Robinson, Nerlens Noel, Taj Gibson or Jericho Sims at center. They can get Hartenstein elbow touches, where he can pivot and find cutters or run handoffs with shooters. Quickley, in particular, should get his connection with Hartenstein going to generate 3s. When Evan Fournier is on the floor with Hartenstein, I expect Fournier to get even more looks from deep.
And yes, Fred, he can bring the ball up! Hartenstein is not merely a basic read passer. The Knicks are going to have to learn how to cut better, particularly Barrett. Hartenstein learned from Nikola Jokić about precision passing, and he looks to get his teammates going in a variety of ways. I’d argue that Hartenstein was underutilized offensively in L.A. New York doesn’t have to fall into the same pattern despite its relative abundance of ballhandlers.
The advanced stats paint Hartenstein as one of the best rim protectors in the NBA this past season, but he doesn’t affect layups and dunks the same way as Robinson, who intimidates with his never-ending arms and athleticism. What does Hartenstein do that makes him so effective there?
Hartenstein is a legitimate 7-footer, and he challenges everything. He was the best shot blocker on the team last season, and he combined with Ivica Zubac to help the Clippers rank third in the NBA in field-goal differential within six feet of the basket last season. Hartenstein had the same number of blocks as Zubac (77) despite playing more than 600 fewer minutes. Only Hassan Whiteside and Isaiah Jackson averaged more than Hartenstein’s 1.1 blocks per game while playing fewer than 20 minutes per game last season.
Hartenstein rotates well to help, and even when he gets beat off the dribble, he has enough length to get back into plays and challenge for blocks. He shared during the season that he watches a lot of film and prioritizes staying vertical. He’s willing to get dunked on if it means saving a bucket. Hartenstein’s effectiveness at the rim was the best part of his season, and it’s what helped him beat out Harry Giles III in the 2021 preseason to secure the Clippers’ final roster spot.
The other side of Hartenstein’s defense is the hacking. He finished eighth in the league in fouls per minute this past season. Six of those eight players were backup centers whose teams let them play aggressively in limited minutes. There will be nights when Hartenstein has to run for more minutes because of Robinson’s foul trouble. The Knicks could have some issues guarding guys on the perimeter, which would mean contesting more shots in the paint, too. How do you anticipate the trend carries over to the Knicks?
Every game Hartenstein played last season was off the bench behind Zubac, and Hartenstein hasn’t played 30 minutes in a game since December 2019. It will be interesting to see how Hartenstein would handle a longer leash because he is certainly a magnet for fouls. Last season, Hartenstein averaged a career-best 4.9 personal fouls per 36 minutes. The fouls show up most notably in the post; despite Hartenstein’s size at 250 pounds, he can get overwhelmed by the league’s more physical interior scorers. That physicality shows up on the glass at times too; while Hartenstein is a great rim protector, he’s not as impressive when it comes to defensive rebounding.
The Clippers were the second-best team in the league last season at guarding without fouling, while the Knicks were in the bottom 10 in that category. Hartenstein is still a young player, having only turned 24 this past spring. But foul trouble is going to be an issue for New York and for Hartenstein next season, and Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau will have to account for that.
Hartenstein is not a stretch five, and he’s never been a stretch five, but over the final week and a half of this past season, he started taking 3s and was making them. It’s not like these were meaningless April games. The Clippers were fighting for a playoff spot and still endorsed the change enough to let him do it. Hartenstein made eight 3s over his last five games, sinking at least one triple in each of them. Is this a flukish 10-day stretch or is there reason to think he could step out to the arc moving forward?
It took Hartenstein all season to get the green light from 3, but his light was certainly yellow when the season started. Hartenstein rarely shot from beyond the arc before March, making only four 3-pointers through the end of February. That total matched his career output entering this season. Hartenstein barely looks at the basket anyway, as we have established how much of a pass-first player he is. To say that he was content with his role is an understatement.
But when the Clippers were in Chicago at the end of March, Hartenstein had coach Tyronn Lue look at the eight 3s that he had in a 2019 G-League playoff game with the Rio Grande Valley Vipers. In the G League, Hartenstein made 56 3s in 85 games, including the postseason. The Clippers coaching staff finally gave Hartenstein the green light, and he made 8-of-13 3s.
Hartenstein isn’t going to make half of his 3s all of a sudden, but I was surprised that Hartenstein only had a yellow light from 3. I told him as much during the season. As I mentioned before, Hartenstein was quite underutilized in L.A. offensively. Memo to Tom Thibodeau: give Hartenstein that green light! After seeing Taj Gibson embrace the 3 last season, I don’t think Hartenstein will have a problem finding some shots from deep in New York.
Let’s assume the Knicks’ second unit is Hartenstein, Rose, Quickley, Quentin Grimes and Obi Toppin, though Cam Reddish could squeeze his way in there somehow, as well. You watch the league. You know these players’ tendencies. Which of them do you think Hartenstein is most likely to make better? Is there someone in the first unit you see his game meshing with particularly well?
If Grimes (ironically, a draft pick made for the Knicks by the Clippers last year) is going to be in that second unit, then I believe that Hartenstein can help free him up for prime looks. I would have said the same about Reddish, but his 3-pointer abandoned him in New York, while Grimes is already a 38 percent shooter from deep and wouldn’t be doing a whole lot of ballhandling with Rose and Quickley on the floor.
I mentioned Fournier as another shooter that Hartenstein could help get going, but I would imagine that Barrett is going to play with Hartenstein quite often. They’re both left-handed players, and Hartenstein shared the floor often with another southpaw wing in Los Angeles: Amir Coffey. I can envision plenty of handoffs that get Barrett downhill with Hartenstein rolling as a lob threat or for one of his elite-level floaters. New York missed having a solid roll man who could also cut and finish when Robinson was off the floor last season. They have a solid player in that role now with Hartenstein, and it’s up to Barrett to show that he can be a better playmaker to take advantage of what Hartenstein can do.
7/2/2022 11:46 AM
